OK any ideas on this issue

[W****n S***********g]

OK, on the computer and I am doing some clean up of drive C(with windows
tools,disk cleanup and check)

I then reboot and notice that my background on the desktop is wrong, so I go
into the properties and go to set the correct background and it tells me the
directory that i am looking for is not available etc etc.

So I go into my computer and low and behold, no photo drive. nada, nothing.

OK, so now the sweat breaks out(I do have back ups anyway)because I am
wondering what the hay?

Disk management does not show it(second hard drive).

I open the case and switch SATA cables around and then it will not boot at
all, tells me of a failure of disk 3 and to press F1, which does nothing
either.

I move the SATA cables around some more and it says the same thing but this
time disk 4.

So I put cables in original SATA plugs and it boots but no second hard
drive. nada.

So, are the odds my SATA plug on the motherboard is toast or is it the hard
drive or a combo.

I am currently plugged into SATA 1 and 2.

ASUS M3a78 motherboard with Western digital hard drives. relatively new set
up.

Any input or other troubleshooting ideas.

Thanks,

Warren

 

[Brian A.]

OK, on the computer and I am doing some clean up of drive C(with windows
tools,disk cleanup and check)

I then reboot and notice that my background on the desktop is wrong, so I
go into the properties and go to set the correct background and it tells
me the directory that i am looking for is not available etc etc.

So I go into my computer and low and behold, no photo drive. nada,
nothing.
OK, so now the sweat breaks out(I do have back ups anyway)because I am
wondering what the hay?

Disk management does not show it(second hard drive).

I open the case and switch SATA cables around and then it will not boot at
all, tells me of a failure of disk 3 and to press F1, which does nothing
either.

I move the SATA cables around some more and it says the same thing but
this time disk 4.

So I put cables in original SATA plugs and it boots but no second hard
drive. nada.

So, are the odds my SATA plug on the motherboard is toast or is it the
hard drive or a combo.

I am currently plugged into SATA 1 and 2.

ASUS M3a78 motherboard with Western digital hard drives. relatively new
set up.

Any input or other troubleshooting ideas.

Thanks,

Warren

Is there an OS on the second HD? If yes, did you change the boot order in the
BIOS to boot from that disk first after swapping the SATA cables?
If the second HD doesn't have an OS installed and it's not bootable, no swapping
of the SATA cables will get it to boot from that drive.

Is the second HD recognized in the BIOS?

 

[Paul]

OK, on the computer and I am doing some clean up of drive C(with windows
tools,disk cleanup and check)

I then reboot and notice that my background on the desktop is wrong, so I go
into the properties and go to set the correct background and it tells me the
directory that i am looking for is not available etc etc.

So I go into my computer and low and behold, no photo drive. nada, nothing.

OK, so now the sweat breaks out(I do have back ups anyway)because I am
wondering what the hay?

Disk management does not show it(second hard drive).

I open the case and switch SATA cables around and then it will not boot at
all, tells me of a failure of disk 3 and to press F1, which does nothing
either.

I move the SATA cables around some more and it says the same thing but this
time disk 4.

So I put cables in original SATA plugs and it boots but no second hard
drive. nada.

So, are the odds my SATA plug on the motherboard is toast or is it the hard
drive or a combo.

I am currently plugged into SATA 1 and 2.

ASUS M3a78 motherboard with Western digital hard drives. relatively new set
up.

Any input or other troubleshooting ideas.

Thanks,

Warren

Check in the BIOS, where it shows the names of the detected hard drives.
Are both hard drives there ? It takes a hard drive that is willing to
respond, plus a minimum number of packets exchanged between the BIOS
and the disk, to get the name displayed on the BIOS screen.

If you can't get even that far, you're in deep trouble. (But you have
backups, so it isn't that bad.)

Start by checking that the power plug is making contact. Inspect the pins
on the power connector for damage. (I had a Molex connector burn a month ago,
so it happens.) The SATA connector itself, is rated for a limited number
of cycles. There have even been cases, where a connector gets bumped, and
causes the PCB to crack on the hard drive.

It sounds like your cable swapping experiment, is proving it isn't
a bad interface on the motherboard. It sounds like the issue is
at the disk end.

Sometimes, the SATA cable itself gets damaged. The data cable should not
be bent and kinked by your handling. It should follow a smooth curve.
If it is bent or kinked, that means the insulation is compressed, and
the impedance of the cable might be affected. In any case, you can
always try another SATA cable, just in case the cable is bad.

If you can see the drive name in the BIOS, there is still hope.

If there is no drive name in the BIOS, it could mean the firmware
on the drive has a problem. There were some Seagate drives, with
defective firmware. Take the part number off your drive (look on the
label), and then start Googling the part number, to see if you have
one of the affected drives.

There is no point downloading any disk diagnostics, if the drive
cannot be detected.

Paul

 

[W****n S***********g]

Is there an OS on the second HD? If yes, did you change the boot order in
the BIOS to boot from that disk first after swapping the SATA cables?
If the second HD doesn't have an OS installed and it's not bootable, no
swapping of the SATA cables will get it to boot from that drive.

Is the second HD recognized in the BIOS?

There is no operating system on the second hard drive and it is not
recognized by the bios either, just the one hard drive with the system on it
shows in the bios. : (

 

[W****n S***********g]

Check in the BIOS, where it shows the names of the detected hard drives.
Are both hard drives there ? It takes a hard drive that is willing to
respond, plus a minimum number of packets exchanged between the BIOS
and the disk, to get the name displayed on the BIOS screen.

If you can't get even that far, you're in deep trouble. (But you have
backups, so it isn't that bad.)

Start by checking that the power plug is making contact. Inspect the pins
on the power connector for damage. (I had a Molex connector burn a month
ago,
so it happens.) The SATA connector itself, is rated for a limited number
of cycles. There have even been cases, where a connector gets bumped, and
causes the PCB to crack on the hard drive.

It sounds like your cable swapping experiment, is proving it isn't
a bad interface on the motherboard. It sounds like the issue is
at the disk end.

Sometimes, the SATA cable itself gets damaged. The data cable should not
be bent and kinked by your handling. It should follow a smooth curve.
If it is bent or kinked, that means the insulation is compressed, and
the impedance of the cable might be affected. In any case, you can
always try another SATA cable, just in case the cable is bad.

If you can see the drive name in the BIOS, there is still hope.

If there is no drive name in the BIOS, it could mean the firmware
on the drive has a problem. There were some Seagate drives, with
defective firmware. Take the part number off your drive (look on the
label), and then start Googling the part number, to see if you have
one of the affected drives.

There is no point downloading any disk diagnostics, if the drive
cannot be detected.

Paul

What confuses me is the fact that when swapping the SATA cables the computer
fails to boot at all. I am guessing that the boot order is then messed up
and it does not know what to do.

There is no operating system on the second drive and it is not showing up in
the bios either. So I am guessing that my drive has failed. It has a sticker
with a date on it of 11/18/08. Not a long time if you ask me.

I have plugged cables in and out and the only set up that works is the
current one.

Just a bummer I guess since the drive is not that old.

 

[W****n S***********g]

OK, on the computer and I am doing some clean up of drive C(with windows
tools,disk cleanup and check)

I then reboot and notice that my background on the desktop is wrong, so I
go into the properties and go to set the correct background and it tells
me the directory that i am looking for is not available etc etc.

So I go into my computer and low and behold, no photo drive. nada,
nothing.

OK, so now the sweat breaks out(I do have back ups anyway)because I am
wondering what the hay?

Disk management does not show it(second hard drive).

I open the case and switch SATA cables around and then it will not boot at
all, tells me of a failure of disk 3 and to press F1, which does nothing
either.

I move the SATA cables around some more and it says the same thing but
this time disk 4.

So I put cables in original SATA plugs and it boots but no second hard
drive. nada.

So, are the odds my SATA plug on the motherboard is toast or is it the
hard drive or a combo.

I am currently plugged into SATA 1 and 2.

ASUS M3a78 motherboard with Western digital hard drives. relatively new
set up.

Any input or other troubleshooting ideas.

Thanks,

Warren

Subsequent information from the event log:

First error:


Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Disk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 51
Date: 3/30/2010
Time: 8:05:38 PM
User: N/A
Computer: NODOWNLOADING
Description:
An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk1\D during a paging
operation.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 03 00 68 00 01 00 b6 00 ..h...¶.
0008: 00 00 00 00 33 00 04 80 ....3..€
0010: 2d 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 -.......
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0028: 21 43 00 00 00 00 00 00 !C......
0030: ff ff ff ff 03 00 00 00 ÿÿÿÿ....
0038: 40 00 00 09 00 00 00 00 @.......
0040: 00 20 0a 12 40 03 20 40 . ..@. @
0048: 00 10 00 00 0a 00 00 00 ........
0050: 00 00 00 00 d0 79 8b 88 ....Ðy‹ˆ
0058: 00 00 00 00 80 27 99 88 ....€'™ˆ
0060: 00 00 00 00 b0 25 7d 06 ....°%}.
0068: 28 00 06 7d 25 b0 00 00 (..}%°..
0070: 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0078: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0088: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

Second error:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Ftdisk
Event Category: Disk
Event ID: 57
Date: 3/30/2010
Time: 8:23:37 PM
User: N/A
Computer: NODOWNLOADING
Description:
The system failed to flush data to the transaction log. Corruption may
occur.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 00 00 00 00 01 00 be 00 ......¾.
0008: 02 00 00 00 39 00 04 80 ....9..€
0010: 00 00 00 00 0e 00 00 c0 .......À
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........


Final error:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Ntfs
Event Category: Disk
Event ID: 55
Date: 3/30/2010
Time: 8:26:50 PM
User: N/A
Computer: NODOWNLOADING
Description:
The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run
the chkdsk utility on the volume N:.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 0d 00 00 00 02 00 4e 00 ......N.
0008: 02 00 00 00 37 00 04 c0 ....7..À
0010: 00 00 00 00 32 00 00 c0 ....2..À
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

It would seem that the drive has died! RIP.

I am unable to find drive in bios or disk management. Chkdsk is not
possible.

It was a good drive while it lasted(two years) which was a short time as far
as i am concerned. Hmmm. No other words to say.